Introducing the X-friends app

+53 votes
3.6k views

A brand new app is now available for testing and it's called the X-friends app! (or the X-Chromosome Friend Finder)

The purpose of the app is to identify all possible relatives on WikiTree that you could potentially share a portion of your X-chromosome (a group I like to call the X-friends!).

Because of the unique inheritance path of the X-chromosome, this can be a tricky thing to figure out.  Of course, because of the general randomness of DNA inheritance (for all chromosomes!), the results are only POTENTIAL X-friends. However, it can be useful for identifying cousins for future DNA testing.

I have put together a How-To video that explains it better, and in more detail, than I can do so in a G2G post, and I would recommend you watch it first. (You can skip the X-chromosome tutorial portion at the beginning if that's old news to you...)

Many thanks to James Smith, coordinator of the Corato One Place study project, and researcher who came up with the ideas that led to this app, and Peter J. Roberts, WikiTree DNA expert who helped us refine various aspects of it.  Also thanks to Team Italy who helped create profiles during the most recent Connect-a-Thon so we can test the app fully!

Jan 26th -  App back in working order - sorry for the disruption in X-service.

in The Tree House by Greg Clarke G2G6 Pilot (114k points)
edited by Greg Clarke

13 Answers

+16 votes
Excited to test this out!!  (first to comment!!!)
by Caroline Verworn G2G6 Mach 9 (92.3k points)
+18 votes
You're a super star, Greg. The depth and breadth of what you contribute to our community continues to amaze me.
by Chris Whitten G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Thanks Chris! You're very kind!
+11 votes
Really excited for this!
by Sjana Lee Bauer G2G6 Mach 3 (33.5k points)
+9 votes
That's sounds cool. I'll have to try it!
by Eileen Robinson G2G6 Pilot (205k points)
+8 votes
I like what I see so far! Once again, you've knocked it out of the park!
by Ken Parman G2G6 Pilot (121k points)
Thanks Ken!
+8 votes
Thanks for this new app! Definitely will be helpful. I love the clear layouts, especially the Root Individual page.
by Maggie N. G2G Astronaut (1.3m points)
edited by Maggie N.

Smith-75922 is an x H5a1 if you all you use that

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-75922

That's dad's.  He doesn't do this sort of thing online.

Lots of wiki challenges with his ancestry. And personality, lol. Will be 91 March 13.

Morning, Gail! I think that H5a1 designation is probably a mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. There's no analogous grouping for the X chromosome or any of the autosomes.

The thing that's so very different about yDNA and mtDNA is that neither of them undergo recombination. They're termed "uniparental DNA" because they're inherited along the patrilineal and matrilineal lines only, and their DNA changes only through mutation...in the case of mtDNA, mainly because it's such a tiny DNA molecule (it isn't part of our nuclear DNA, but in a very small organelle in our cells, sometimes thousands of them in a single cell), the mutation rates are glacially slow. Mitochondrial haplogroups typically represent timeframes in the thousands of years.

We each have mitochondria in all our cells expect red blood cells, but our mitochondria come only from our mothers. Though there have been extremely rare and isolated instances identified where the father's mtDNA was inherited by a child, that's so extraordinary that, for genealogy, it's safe to assume that all mtDNA in an individual came from the mother.

A good place to find out more about mtDNA is this first article in a series by Roberta Estes.

+8 votes
Thank you so much!  Love this.  Love the "X-Chromosome Family Tree."  The colors are just great fun, and make the tree beautiful.  I think this will also be a key to some of my brick wall areas.  xox, Charles, Raleigh NC
by Charles Uzzell G2G6 Mach 1 (12.7k points)
Thanks Charles!  I'm kind of proud of the X-Chromosome Family Tree.  Of course, it's only a tree of POTENTIAL inheritance of the X-Chromosome all the way down .. but still - fun to visualize !
I've noticed a lot of variation on the X inheritance from known folks.  That is, cM's have a broad range.  Understood. But I really like starting with the mathematical exact probability and moving from that. (Plus, it makes the tree spectacular!)

So, what is your take on the concept that on Chr X you can assume less than 7 cM is a "good" match?  Seems I remember reading that the gedmatch people themselves said that we can "use" less than 7 cM on Chr X, because of the way it is inherited.  perhaps, mathematically, it would be as low as 3.5 cM?  (I don't actually do that... I'm speaking theoretically.)
Excellent question Charles - but - alas - I don't know the latest research to properly answer it fully.

However, I've more often heard the opposite - that segments 16cM or larger are the more trustworthy ones to use with the X-chromosome.  BUT ... mathematically, it should be possible for the smaller ones to be valid - but - the problem is how to know which ones are legit matches, and which are just IDC (matches that are identical by chance - ie - a fluke false positive match).  Also - biologically, the chromosome can't split into an infinite number of pieces, smaller and smaller - unlike fractions - so there is a lower limit to how small a piece can be passed on (I'm not aware of what that number is - that might be the 7cM or 3.5cM that GEDmatch referred to you ??)

Definitely an interesting topic!
+8 votes
Is there a similar ap for mtDNA?  So far, I have been building tree branches on my mtDNA ancestry tree mainly including just females except where a husband provides more info on wife.  Changing LNABs every generation is a pain to keep track of.
by Jim Ward G2G6 (6.5k points)
+5 votes

Help!  Whilst processing a GEDCOM file, I get multiple warnings that "Multiple parent relationships found for...".  On inspection of the Ancestry tree from which the GEDCOM is generated, parent relationships appear straightforward. What do these warnings mean?

Thanks!

by David Farman G2G2 (2.9k points)
Hi there David,

I added that check in the GEDcom imports because a person was being defined as being part of TWO nuclear families (ie - the child of more than one couple).

In the specific GEDcoms I was looking at, the issue was there was a duplicate entry for one of the parents - so - the child was the part of the Mother + Father family unit - but - then also a child of a single-parent Father(duplicate) family

The same issue MIGHT occur (now that I'm thinking of it) if you have a child listed as a member of an Adoptive Family as well as a Natural Family (so two different sets of parents) ... I don't check for that ...

Let me know if that is your case, and if I have to program around that ... I'm pretty sure the GEDcom has a variable to distinguish those specific cases
+4 votes
Another amazing thing to have, Greg. Truly a magician!
by Steven Greenwood G2G6 Pilot (122k points)
Thanks Steven ... some of the time ...
Works pretty quickly in WikiTree mode for me, using Firefox v. 109.0 and all sourcer apps and adblockers activated.
+6 votes
Thanks for taking the time to do the work, put together a video and share with all of us- very excited to try it out!!!

   Becky Elizabeth

   Simmons-11603
by Becky Simmons G2G6 Mach 2 (27.3k points)
+4 votes
Sounds like great development Greg. Thanks. I have tried to run the app on my small wikitree but after an hour it still says processing. It seems stuck as it is only finding my mother as a Root Ancestor. Ive asked for three generations, which are in there, but it doesn't seem to be seeing them. Any suggestions?

Cathie
by Cathie Steele G2G Crew (320 points)
Oops. I broke it tonight! Yikes. Will fix it ASAP !
"What did you DO, Ray?"
HI there Cathie (and Steve) ... I've now fixed it.

Would you believe the spanner in the works was basically an extra minus sign ? ( - ). ... took me FOREVER to find it - my eyes scanned past the errant code AT LEAST TEN times before spotting it ... (as well as the rest of the file ...)

sigh ...
Such is the life! Thanks for taking the time to troubleshoot, and I'll be testing it now.
btw... good question!  haha.  :). “What did you Dzo, Ray?”

Hi Greg,

sad What a pain! Unfortunately I am still having the same problem. 

Is the program working for others? Perhaps it is my tree. Its still finding only my mother and no friends........

Cathie

Hmmm… ok I will check. This sounds like a different problem from the thing I broke yesterday, and others are having trouble using the app with female relatives.  Male ones seem to work more often.  In my testing my female relatives work, as does Queen Elizabeth II apparently.

I’ll look again tomorrow and see what is happening.

Hi Greg,

Its working. Thank you! I still havent found any living friends unfortunatelyfrown but the program is now showing all the X chromosome ancestors that I have entered.

What a great tool. I'll look a bit further into it....

Regards,

Cathie

+3 votes

Thanks, Greg.  I love the app.

Now I need to get more of my ancestors to use WikiTree.  I went back 7 generations, and my only X-friend hits were people I'd entered, and the only living ones were my brother and I.  :)

by Mike Ross G2G1 (1.8k points)

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